Horace Mann - Spring 2017 - 21

HM Alumni Address "The Issues" in Their Work and Lives

Dr. Stephen Sheppard '53
Finds Inspiration for the Future in the Past:
The Wondrous World's Columbian Exposition of 1893

ast year, residents of Chicago
received two gifts. One was the
Chicago Cubs' historic 2016 World
Series win. Another came as the
year drew to a close, when the city's
resident Joffrey Ballet observed
the annual holiday season tradition
of performing Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" ballet-but with a
transformative, Chicago-centric take.
The production captured rave reviews, as the Joffrey upended the "Nutcracker's" familiar portrayal of well-heeled guests
celebrating Christmas at a lavish home, and reinterpreted it
to instead feature immigrant artisans gathering together at a
friend's rustic shack. Both guests and host were portrayed as
workers constructing the great World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893. The dreamlike tour the dancers take to foreign lands
was set against the scenery of the Exposition's international
villages that, in reality, played a transformative role in U.S. and
international consciousness of the day.
The World's Columbian Exposition commemorated the 400th
anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World.
The "Fair" was held in Chicago, from May through October 1893,
after the U.S. Congress selected the Midwestern hub over New
York City to host this all-important fin de siècle event. But, the
Exposition marked much more than a watershed moment for
Chicago, alone: With its show of American ingenuity and innovation, and with the wide welcome the Exposition extended to the
international community, it announced the United States' entry
as a major player onto the world's industrial-age stage. The
Joffrey described its decision to anchor its Nutcracker during
the run-up to the World's Columbian Exposition as a way of
recapturing the heady optimism of an exciting era.

Photo by Ruth Seligman

Horace Mann School alumnus Dr. Stephen Sheppard '53
believes the promise of the era is portrayed by the history of the
World's Columbian Exposition itself. With over 27 million people
from around the world visiting its 600 acres of exhibits, amusements and magnificent grounds over the course of only a brief
six month span, the Fair inspired society as a whole. What's
astounding, notes Dr. Sheppard, was the Fair's sweeping influence in an age well before the Internet, social media and swift
forms of intercontinental and international travel. The innovations first showcased, and the intellectual and cultural spaces
Exposition visitors explored, "impacted the world throughout
the 20th century, and continue to impact us today," Dr. Sheppard
said. "The World's Columbian Exposition was the most incredible event of a positive nature of the 19th century. It was also a
turning point in U.S. history, demonstrating that we had come
a long way from our colonial days to being on a par with all the
major industrial countries in Europe, with a profound influence
on the world from that time forward."

A letter from 1893 hailing the Columbian Exposition as a "miracle of the ages" is one
of thousands of documents in Dr. Stephen Sheppard's '53 collection.

Lasting lessons
Dr. Sheppard is an expert on the 1893 World's Columbian
Exposition, a subject he began exploring while engaged,
professionally, in his general dentistry practice. He developed
his interest in the Exposition and its enduring importance
through a pursuit he began as a child-the collecting hobby
he shared with many of his generation. "I collected stamps
when I was younger. Later, I became interested in collecting
World's Fair memorabilia, probably because I'd visited the 1939
New York World's Fair as a kid," Dr. Sheppard said. "As I began
to learn about the Columbian Exposition and what it meant to
the world, I focused my interest on that period." Describing
himself as "something of an archaeologist" Dr. Sheppard
began foraging for the Exposition's historical memorabilia
that filtered into antiques markets, and more recently, online,
largely from family collections.
The alumnus has since refined his passion in a way that
enables his collection to tell its powerful story, by archiving
evidence of the Exposition's impact with a museum's worth of
artifacts, and a library's fill of books, maps, photographs, artwork, and perhaps most significantly, original documents that
bear witness to a fascinating historical moment.
A Lions swim team co-captain, track team star and Mannikin
writer who was also active in the Biology, Science and Art Clubs
of his days at Horace Mann School "Shep," as he was known at
HM, stays in touch with members of his Class of 1953, and has
returned to campus for reunions and Homecoming. He deeply
values the immersion in history, math, science, literature and
especially critical thinking that characterized his "expansive

Horace Mann Magazine Spring 2017

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